The Children’s Outdoor Environments PPN Campfire Session at ASLA 2024

by Amy Wagenfeld, Affil. ASLA, and Chad Kennedy, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP

On Monday, October 7, 2024, we held another successful ASLA Conference Children’s Outdoor Environments Professional Practice Network (COE PPN) meeting. With 30 attendees, including three COE PPN leadership team members—Sarah Williams*, Chad Kennedy, and Amy Wagenfeld—we gathered around the metaphoric ‘campfire’ to discuss a topic that is gaining increasing traction and interest in landscape architecture: inclusive outdoor play space design. We were honored that Caroline Templeton, PLA, and Gregory Miller, FASLA, PLA, were our invited speakers. Each spoke about their work and commitment to inclusive play space design.

We began the session by sharing some impressive facts about the COE PPN, and we re-share them below, as they are well worth repeating:

• The COE PPN was established in 2008; the founding chair was Jena Ponti.
• As of today, we have 389 members.
• The COE PPN LinkedIn group has 1,005 members.
• As of this post for The Field, we are up to a whopping 128 posts—this is the most of any PPN! (Prior to The Field being established in 2012, the COE PPN published digital newsletters—you can check those out on the PPN's Resources page.)
• We have hosted 25 webinars since 2014.
• We initiated and have hosted six Zoom book clubs since January 2023 and are looking forward to continuing this great point of connection.

Now, for a recap of our speakers:

As a licensed landscape architect with 18 years of experience, Caroline Templeton, the Program and Project Manager with Harper's Playground, a non-profit organization in Portland, Oregon, has worked in New York, San Francisco, and Seattle on projects ranging from master plans in China and Napa wineries, to mixed-use green roofs and everything in between. With extensive experience designing K-12 learning environments, as well as parks and playgrounds, she is thrilled to be designing and advocating for the integration of nature and radically inclusive play. Caroline draws inspiration from her own childhood memories of free-range play in suburban Chicago and in the natural areas of London parks, as well as from watching her own kids’ imaginative play.

Caroline talked about the innovative work she does with Harper’s Playground and shared invaluable information about the design process she and her team uses to create radically inclusive play opportunities for all children and the adults who love and care for them. For Harper’s Playground, their radically inclusive model means designing spaces that are physically (accessible and adaptive), socially (natural and communal), and emotionally (thoughtful and beautiful) inviting. These three pillars of their design process are evident in each of their projects. Nature is a partner in their designs!

Gregory Miller, FASLA, is a Principal Landscape Architect with the firm Pland Collaborative in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of Greg’s primary project focus areas is creating immersive play environments that provide for holistic childhood development. He strives to apply research on children’s neurologic, social, physical, and emotional development into designs that inspire and encourage children to explore the outdoors and challenge themselves. He has developed a process to evaluate design concepts and review ideas with a wide range of user groups to ensure truly inclusive spaces.

Greg shared an engaging presentation about his newest inclusive playground project in Farmington, NM, that he and his colleagues at Pland Collaborative designed. With funding through a National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) Resilient Park Access grant, the nearly 8.5 acre Boundless Journey Adventure Park is under construction and promises to be an exemplar of what inclusive outdoor play spaces can be. The all-abilities park is designed to offer opportunities for play, therapy, and fitness for children and adults within a nature-based, sensory rich environment.

As a side note, Caroline and Greg have each generously shared case studies of projects each of their respective organizations have completed for the newly launched Learning Network of the Nature and Health Alliance. Please take a moment to review these amazing projects and consider submitting a case study of one of your projects! We need to get the word out about the importance of high quality outdoor spaces intended to improve human health and wellbeing!

Wait, there's more!

We also welcomed Janet Loebach, PhD, P Eng, who is the Evalyn Edwards Milman Assistant Professor in Child Development at Cornell University. Dr Loebach spent a few moments talking about her work as the coordinator of the Children, Youth, and Environment Network for the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) and opportunities for interested landscape architects to connect with EDRA, such as presenting at the 2025 conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia (November 1, 2024, is the deadline to submit an abstract!), and contributing to an upcoming special issue of the journal Children, Youth, and Environments. Watch for an upcoming post for more information about this opportunity for cross pollination!

There was time for a brief Q&A and discussion before we all headed to our next sessions and meetings at yet another highly successful ASLA conference! (See The Field's previous post for a recap covering all the conference's PPN events.)

*Sarah Williams, ASLA, PLA, CPSI, is the newest member of the COE PPN leadership team, having joined us in September. Sarah is based in Colorado and is Senior Director of Habitat & Design, National Wildlife Federation. It is great to have her on board! And on that note, we would like to extend our deep thanks to the entire leadership team for their ongoing input, commitment, and support for the COE PPN and most of all to the ASLA Professional Practice team for always being there for us, ready to listen to our ideas and in most cases to make them happen.

Please consider joining the COE PPN and serving in a leadership capacity. In the true spirit of inclusion, all are welcome. Come to one of our monthly meetings and find out about the fun things we are doing!

Amy Wagenfeld, Affil. ASLA, PhD, OTR/L, SCEM, FAOTA, an occupational therapist, therapeutic design consultant, educator, researcher, and author, is faculty in University of Washington’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Principal of Amy Wagenfeld | Design. Amy is a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association, holds specialty certification in environmental modifications through the American Occupational Therapy Association, and certification in Healthcare Garden Design through the Chicago Botanical Garden. Amy publishes and presents widely and co-authored the award-winning book, Therapeutic Gardens: Design for Healing Spaces (Timber Press), Nature-Based Strategies for Allied Health Practitioners (Jessica Kingsley Publishers), and The Nature of Inclusive Play (Routledge).

Chad Kennedy, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP, is a Director of Landscape Architecture at the national design firm Westwood. He is a Past Professional Practice Network Council Chair. He is passionate about creating outdoor environments that promote wellness and completeness, and that provide unimpeded access for all who wish to participate. His practice has focused on inclusive play spaces, healthcare gardens and recreational environments that meet those criteria. He recently co-authored a book, The Nature of Inclusive Play: A Guide for Designers, Educators, & Therapists, has published numerous articles on child-focused design, and advocates for free access to play locally, nationally, and internationally.